Uncategorized

Bike

/ myrestlesssoles / Leave a comment

I love my bike.  This last week I just wanted to spend more time on it. camera pics 012 I usually get in at least one good ride a week but that just wasn’t enough.  I think its the spring like weather that has made me want to ride or the fact that I need to start training  for my upcoming 100K. The 100K Cinderella ride is in Pleasanton Ca.  I think this will be my 5th time to participate in this event.  It’s an all women’s ride.  The atmosphere is so fun. Lots of women dress up or decorate their bikes.  This will be the first of hopefully two 100K rides this year.

My bike is a Navora touring bike.  I think I’ve had it for almost 7 yrs.  It’s the perfect bike for me.  I wanted a bike that was light enough to take on the road but also practical for around town.  I have campus pedals.  These have a flat side and a clip in side.  That way I don’t have to have biking shoes on every time I ride.  I love this because I ride my bike to the store, the pool and sometimes to a trail head.   Here’s a picture from my ride the other day.

camera pics 008

I think one of the other reasons I love biking is because it is something my husband and I do together.  Another reason, and this may seem like a contradiction, but I enjoy going by myself.  It gives me a sense of freedom.  If I’m feeling good, I just keep going.  If I’m dragging, I can switch up my route.  I am lucky to live in an area that even though I’m on the road there are lots of places to ride where you can feel like you are still getting away.  There are also lots of great bike lanes and paths.  Lastly, biking is hard work but my body doesn’t receive the pounding it does if I’m running or hiking.

If you haven’t been on a bike lately go out and give it a try!

It never goes as planned

/ myrestlesssoles / Leave a comment

Today I planned to hike in the Tilden Nature Area to Wildcat Canyon Regional Park.  I have a book called 101 Hikes in Northern California by Matt Heid , published by Wilderness Press.  I am trying to hike all of the trails in the book. I am not doing them in any particular order.  Today’s hike is #17 in the book.  Let me just say that this book has given me great ideas of where to hike but some of the directions are hard to follow.  Past experiences have taught me to look at several different maps to make sure I have a better idea of where to go.  I did bring a map along.  I picked up my friend Teemaree.  The traffic was slow and I got lost, so by the time we arrived at the park we decided to take a different route.  I will have to hike the route from the book another day.

From the parking lot we took the Jewel Lake trail to the Wildcat Peak Trail.  The hope was to connect to the Laurel Canyon Trail but instead we reached the Nimitz Way.  A man told us that the Laurel Canyon Trail was just down the road/trail.  We followed that road (Nimitz Way) for quite a while.  I soon realized we must have missed the trail.  We just kept going until the trail ended at Wildcat Canyon Road.  After studying the map we took the Curran trail to Meadows Canyon Trail down to Lone Oak picnic area and the road led us back to our car.

The hike ended up being 5.71 miles.  It took about 2 hrs.  My friends will tell you I don’t mind getting lost or trying new trails.  We always find our way home and in the process see some new places.  That is what I love about hiking, it’s always something unique and beautiful. You could take the same trail but depending on the weather, it may not look the same.  Tilden Park is beautiful. There are so many great trails to explore.  It brought back a lot of fond memories of when I used to bring my kids to the Little Farm to feed the animals and then to hike around.  The hike we took today might not work for a family with small kids but there are several other hikes like the Jewel Lake Trail that would work.

tilden park 007

Meadow Canyon Trail , Tilden park

 

You have to start somewhere.

/ myrestlesssoles / 1 Comment

097.  I wasn’t sure how to start this blog so I decided to just jump in.  Just like exercising you never feel like you can do it because you are so out of shape.  I feel the same way about writing but I won’t get any better unless I just do it.

I am excited to share with you the adventures that I take with family and friends.  I love being outdoors and in nature.  The world is full of beautiful sites.  I have four children that I have taken on most of my adventures.  I have had a lot of people ask for advice on what trail or which trip would work for their family.  I thought this would be a great platform to share where to go and what works.  My kids are all grown so I might be taking along some adopted children on my treks so I can give a true report on what would work for a family.

Today I was by myself just running/walking the trails on Mount Diablo.  The sun was starting to set, a bit overcast and just perfect weather for the trail.